Upstream Leadership with a Geological Perspective – Transform how you observe, communicate and lead through field-based geological learning

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Recognise how bias, assumptions and different interpretations influence technical and leadership decisions.
• Listen and communicate in ways that help colleagues feel heard and encourage constructive challenge.
• Identify personal triggers, protective responses and underlying fears that can limit leadership effectiveness.
• Move into a more resourceful state for difficult conversations, decision-making, goal-setting and action.
• Apply field-based geological observations to strengthen perspective, prediction and big-picture thinking.
• Set clearer boundaries and move beyond limiting or self-sabotaging beliefs.
• Sustain intrinsic motivation and support greater autonomy within teams.
• Create a psychologically safe work culture in which people can contribute and perform at their best.
• Build practical leadership habits and a personal action plan for application after the programme.

This course is designed for upstream professionals who lead people, projects, technical discussions or multidisciplinary decisions, including:

• Exploration and development managers
• Geoscience, geology, geophysics and subsurface team leaders
• Reservoir, petroleum and production engineering leaders
• Asset, project and technical managers
• Emerging leaders and high-potential technical professionals
• Professionals working across integrated subsurface, wells, facilities and operations teams

Recommended Experience

This programme is designed for participants with relevant upstream industry experience who are open to reflecting on real leadership challenges and applying new perspectives to their work. No advanced geological fieldwork experience is required.

• Intermediate

A highly participative residential learning experience that connects what participants observe in the field with how they think, communicate and lead at work. The programme combines facilitated leadership sessions, short inputs, guided reflection and practical tools focused on real workplace behaviour, together with experiential exercises including visualisation, listening practice, individual reflection and group dialogue. Three field locations are used to explore interpretation, prediction, uncertainty, perspective and boundaries, while a seismic stratigraphy exercise provides a classroom-based technical exercise linking detailed observation with the wider regional picture. The programme also addresses participant challenges through structured work on genuine leadership issues identified before and during the programme, supported by Action & Feed-Forward through individual commitments and peer feed-forward to support new habits after the programme.

 

Your expert course leader 1, PhD from the University of Leuven in Belgium, is a freelance Leadership trainer, and consultant/trainer in Petroleum Geology, with over 35 years’ international career, spanning E&P Royal Dutch Shell, the Shell-affiliated Petroleum Development Oman and as an independent.

She has been teaching Petroleum Exploration and Reservoir Characterisation courses globally and is also a lecturer at the German University of Technology in Oman. She designs and runs leadership training for large corporate and small companies, with a wide range of team cultures in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural settings. With a passionate purpose of “building flourishing work places”, she is dedicated to enabling teams and leaders function optimally to create remarkable results and fulfillment.

 

Your expert course leader 2 worked for 36 years for Shell. His assignments were in research and exploration and included visiting Oman for research from 1980-82, 4 years as team geologist with Shell in each of Sarawak, Houston, and London, 4 years as Exploration Manager in PDO Oman and 8 years as VP for Global Exploration New Ventures based in the Hague.

He finished his career as both Chief Scientist for Geology for the Shell Group and VP Emerging Technologies with responsibility for both research and investments in renewables. In the first role he was responsible for the deployment, development and well-being of some 200 specialist geoscientists across Shell. He has also been awarded the silver medal of the Petroleum Group of the Geological Society of London.

After retirement he was asked to remain on the Shell Science Advisory Council for 6 years while also becoming Visiting Professor in the Dept. of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, where he now researches and teaches. He is the editor of a sedimentology text-book: “Reading’s Sedimentary Environments: processes facies and stratigraphy”, recently published by Wiley in April 2026.

Unlock the potential of your workforce with customized in-house training programs designed specifically for the energy sector. Our tailored, in-house courses not only enhance employee skills and engagement but also offer significant cost savings by eliminating travel expenses. Invest in your team’s success and achieve specific outcomes aligned with your organization’s goals through our expert training solutions. Request for further information regarding our on-site or in-house training opportunities.

In our ongoing commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility, we will no longer providing hard copy training materials. Instead, all training content and resources will be delivered in digital format. Inspired by the oil and energy industry’s best practices, we are leveraging on digital technologies to reduce waste, lower our carbon emissions, ensuring our training content is always up-to-date and accessible. Click here to learn more.

To further optimise your learning experience from our courses, we also offer individualised coaching support. We can help improve your competence in your chosen area of interest, based on your learning needs and available hours. This is a great opportunity to improve your capability and confidence in a particular area of expertise. It can be delivered virtually through video conference or face to face by one of our senior subject matter experts. They will work with you to create a tailor-made coaching program that will help you achieve your goals faster. Learn more about our post training coaching services here.